


fettered as far as you think you're free

by sandyk



Category: Titans (TV 2018)
Genre: Gen, no comics canon, vaguely post series 1 finale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 06:16:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,083
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17761385
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sandyk/pseuds/sandyk
Summary: Dick is recovering on Donna's couch.





	fettered as far as you think you're free

**Author's Note:**

> not mine, no profit garnered. Title from Franklin Bruno's tired of the west. Song mentioned in story is Lori McKenna's People Get Old. (Also, really, no comics canon. Pure series based.) For the trope bingo square amnesia.

Maybe Dick had amnesia and didn't remember anything about Trigon's dark madness. He was just a guy on a couch. Donna's couch. He was recuperating. He was convalescing. 

"I'm sure you're thinking about things you should be doing --"

He didn't open his eyes. It was Donna's couch. But this was Kory's voice. He said, "I'm not." 

Dick had recovered before. He'd rehabbed injuries. Broken bones, cracked, sprained, bruises and scratches and cuts. He could hear a singsong Dr. Seuss kind of list of all of it. Some of these injuries from this past few weeks were new to him. 

Alfred would prescribe rest for all of this. He must have at some point for something else. Dick could remember his voice saying it. 

He kept his eyes closed. 

Donna and Kory were talking. Kory was filling Donna in about Kory's planet. Kory was from another planet, he thought. Donna asked questions about Kory's ship. Her age. What it was like. This planet vs. Kory's. 

Kory was talking. Donna even laughed. Someone started a television show streaming. Sex and the City. Kory said, "This one was in the briefing packet." 

Donna said, "Ouch."

Dick made a little noise to let them know he was awake. He opened his eyes and sat up slowly. 

"Which way to the bathroom?" His vision was still fucked up. Everything was shapes and shadows. That was a new experience.

Something Kory shaped glowed. She said, "I'll walk you there. I'll start the bath, but that's it." 

Dick smiled to say okay. 

He closed his eyes and dipped under the water for a moment. He could have amnesia. He could ignore everything. It was tempting. He was probably incapable of it. 

He fell asleep again. He woke up shivering as someone drained the water. He squinted. Donna. She threw a towel on top of him. "The couch will be more comfortable," Donna said.

It was night and the couch was more comfortable. 

Donna made breakfast. "Finally something you're not good at," Dick said. He waved his burnt toast around.

"Don't complain," Donna said.

"No complaining," Kory said. 

"You're ganging up on me and I'm the one with burnt toast," Dick said. 

"That's real suffering," Donna said.

He went back to the couch. He didn't have amnesia. He'd had, he still had an ego. He believed in himself as a kind of hero who was necessary. He had to be the one. He had to make sacrifice. But he wasn't. He didn't. 

He rubbed his eyes. His vision was clearing up. He had significant gain in his periphery. He clenched his fists and released them. He was recovering right on schedule. 

Dick didn't put things off. He was well enough to call Alfred. It was a short conversation. Dick had people in his life who cared about him. 

Kory went with him for a walk out in the bright sunshine. It almost hurt his eyes. He guessed she was recovering a little, too. He started to think he should have kept better track of who was injured, when everyone would be ready. Then he forced himself to stop trying to be the one in charge. He said, "How long are we staying here?"

"We?" She was wearing jeans. They were skin tight and slightly iridescent, but it was still jeans. He wasn't used to it. When had she had time to go shopping? It was important to keep track of the details. 

"We," he said. "Of course."

She looked at him with an implicit eyeroll. He said, "When did you have time to buy a new wardrobe?"

"You were asleep for a week," Kory said. "About a week."

"I can't picture you shopping," Dick said.

She didn't reply. He said, "Do you even have money?"

"Of course I do," she said.

"Did you steal it?"

"Basically," she said. "Where does your money come from?"

"My job," Dick said. "If I still have it."

"Trust fund?"

Dick shrugged. "That, too."

"Do you want your job?"

"Yes," he said. "Yeah."

He desperately needed a nap. 

Donna's place was empty again. He was on the couch, drifting between awake and asleep. Someone was listening to music loudly, somewhere near enough he could barely hear it. His mind filled in the notes he was missing or he thought he did. Maybe most of it was a dream. 

He gave in and opened his eyes. He stared at the ceiling and tried to meditate. He could find quiet but not peace. 

Someone was playing music in the apartment next to Donna's. Dick could hear it through the wall. He wondered if it was loud in the other apartment or if he was just in the correct spot in the house to hear it. It was louder now, he could clearly hear the songs. A woman was singing about growing old. If you lived long enough, the people you love would grow old. For a moment, it felt like a curse. It wasn't supposed to be. It would be nice to see Rachel grow old enough to go to college and be an adult. It would be nice. It was a hopeful thought. He could do that. 

Dick decided he was going to keep his job. He intrinsically liked being a cop. He'd gone into the academy full of a kind of optimism. He could be that guy. It still seemed possible. 

He tried explaining it over dinner to Donna. Kory was out. He couldn't actually picture Kory flipping through racks of shiny clothes somewhere high end. Maybe she went to a thrift store. He didn't think Kory would pick something used. She looked good in anything. His mind was definitely wandering. 

Donna said, "Kory is trying to settle her legal troubles. Don't ask me what she's doing, she wouldn't tell me. I don't think she's going to kill anyone."

"Probably not," Dick said. "She remembers everything now, maybe she can use the ship's capabilities."

"Alien ship," Donna said. "Who knows what it can do?" They ate in silence for a few minutes. Companionable silence. She said, "So you think you can be a cop again?"

"Yes," Dick said. "I don't have to be that. Whatever that was, before. I've learned from all of this."

"I hope so," Donna said. She smiled. "I believe in you."

"Why I don't believe you?"

She laughed. "I really do believe you can do it."

"Thank you," he said. He didn't have amnesia. He could remember everything. He could learn, even.


End file.
